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SidecarFlip's avatar
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Sep 24, 2017

Unpleasantly Surprised

While I don't own a diesel pusher (I have a TC), I was down at the shop last week (the shop is an authorized Freightliner chassis repair facility and heavy truck dealership, I was in the back service bay and one of the tech was working on a large diesel pusher. Looked fantastic on the outside with 3 slides, full body paint sat dish and all the 'stuff.

Underneath, it was a mess. The coach looked like it was stored in a field during the off season. Everything underneath was corroded. It was in the shop for a Cummins EGR valve replacement and the tech was into a solid 24 hours to replace the valve (normally on an accessable engine), a 30 minute job.

The tech had to pull the entire exhaust manifold and turbo off the engine because all the bolts were so corroded, he could not get anything loose, just to replace the EGR valve. he told me because it was so cramped underneath, it took 3 guys to wiggle the assembly out.

I took a look underneath and I was amazed at the corrosion. even the radiator support was rusted to the point where failure was just a bump away.

He said there was less than 20K miles on the coach. He had the ATA plumbing laying on the bench. I was amazed to see how corroded the tubes were, both outside and INSDDE and I thought to myself, all that rust is going through the ATA unit and into the motor... just amazing.

I guess it's 'for sale'. Not for me. I'd not even want to pay the repair bill for the EGE valve replacement at $130 bucks an hour plus parts 24 x $130 is a chunk of change... $3 grand plus for what should be a 250 dollar job.

Looked so nice on the outside but what a bomb on the underside.

Moral of the story is, heated inside storage, or at least inside storage on concrete is much better than parking a unit in a dirt lot somewhere. Moisture ruins any unit and it son't take long either.

29 Replies

  • DownTheAvenue wrote:
    You are making quit an assumption that it had been improperly parked which caused the corrosion. With your descriptions, I bet it had been exposed to sea water or salt treated roads.


    Sea salt, no, plated Ohio and bought local so no sea. Not sure where it was parked but there was no evidence (that I saw) of salt or CaCl corrosion because there was no white residue thats associated with road salt anywhere I looked. Don't believe the owner washed the underside off, least it didn't appear to be ever washed.
  • Great reason to avoid purchasing anything north of the Mason/Dixon line. Purchase a unit from Ga. or Al. and avoid all the salt and rust.
  • Bird Freak wrote:
    DownTheAvenue wrote:
    You are making quit an assumption that it had been improperly parked which caused the corrosion. With your descriptions, I bet it had been exposed to sea water or salt treated roads.
    I agree.


    X2
    I see you are from Michigan. You really should know all about what salted roads can do to any vehicle. That are either, not undercoated or washing the underside each and every time after driving on salted roads whether the roads are currently wet or dry outed when you drove on them. :W

    Certainly has nothing to do with whether it was a DP or not. Under carriages of ANY vehicle will rust from salt. A $2,000 RV or a $300,000 RV will all rust from salt.
  • What has the fact that it is rusted got to do with it being a DP? Maybe it was driven in the winter. SALT! Could have been a Class c and had the same problem.

    Problem
  • SidecarFlip wrote:
    I took a look underneath and I was amazed at the corrosion. even the radiator support was rusted to the point where failure was just a bump away.

    I don't own one but, I understand a radiator for a DP is very expensive.
    This is an excellent example of why you should have a RV inspected before purchase. Pictures definitely don't show everything.

    Maybe this was a flood victim?
  • DownTheAvenue wrote:
    You are making quit an assumption that it had been improperly parked which caused the corrosion. With your descriptions, I bet it had been exposed to sea water or salt treated roads.
    I agree.
  • A good case for undercoating before taking it anywhere. Also something else to inspect for when buying.
  • You are making quit an assumption that it had been improperly parked which caused the corrosion. With your descriptions, I bet it had been exposed to sea water or salt treated roads.